Business Environment

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Keep Satisfied: These groups have a less interest on the organization. But they have a high influence over the organization. They need to be treated with care because they will become key players.

Keep Informed: This group has a high interest on the organization. But they do have a less influence on the organization. Therefore, they don’t have the great ability to influence strategy, but their views are important.

Key Players: These are the major stroke players of the organization. They have a high interest as well as a high influence over the organization. Hence, the strategies made must be acceptable or adoptable by them.

1.c) Organizational Responsibilities of MAS Holdings.

Business Responsibilities are the obligations that a business is liable to act to the benefit of the stakeholders. It can be classified as responsibilities towards the employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, community, environment and public.

Though MAS holding is a profit oriented organization, it performs its responsibilities towards the stakeholders by performing the responsibilities well planned where no other organization is able to reach its standard. One of the secrets behind their success is also the concern they have on the society. They have taken special concern on the society as well as the employees by considering the Education, Health, Sports, Employee integration and Environment.

They operate different programs and different strategies to meet those strategies. Some of them in the recent past are mentioned below.

1.c.1) Responsibilities towards the employees.

- A better working condition by providing training and development - Provide training and focused development on areas such as information technology (IT) skills, English skills and leadership skills.

- Securing a better recruitment policy - Encourage female to work towards higher positions by carefully recruiting them at a best cost and providing relevant training before assigning work.

- Conducting special programs to educate the employees for a better life: Arranging and executing special programs.

E.g.: Getting more out of life – A program conducted for both male and female employees to educate on sexual and reproductive health, image building and positive thinking.

1.c.2) Responsibilities towards the community.

- Organizing special awareness programs that help the society which helps for a well-being society.

E.g.: ‘MAS Eco Go Beyond’ program – This was a community oriented program organized with the support of Ministry of Education in 2006 in Sri Lanka to create awareness about sustainability among the future generation of the country.

1.c.3) Responsibilities towards the customers.

- Providing best quality products for the last few years enabling them to join with world class brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Marks & Spencer, La Senza, GAP, Soma, DBA, H&M, Lululemon, Oysho, Athleta, Nike, Addidas, Reebok, Speedo and M&S.

- Dealing with world class brands has increased the trust of this company in people’s mind.

1.c.4) Responsibilities towards the competitors.

- Providing a fair competition to the competitors – MAS holdings compete with many international organizations which are located in China, Singapore and India. The reason behind the success of MAS holdings is the quality production enhanced with the international brands which have a successful market leadership in the western world. Therefore, they ensure a fair competition in which they are unbeatable with the competitors.

- Follow the rules and regulations by the law - They practice the government rules and regulations and act accordingly.

1.c.5) Responsibilities towards the environment.

- Minimizing the impact of their operations and products on the environment - This organization was standardized under ISO 14001(International standard organization certified for Environment Management) by the end of 2012.

- Business activities are conducted at minimal risk to human health and environment – Facilities are retrofitted for lower carbon, energy and water footprints.

Task 02 (LO2, M2, M3, D1)

2.a) Economic Systems.

Economic systems are the ways how people have gathered together to answer their basic economic problems. Basically there are 3 problems that any economic system must address. They are;

- What to produce?

- How to produce?

- For whom to produce?

What to produce?

This is a problem regarding resource allocation. We know that resources are limited. Therefor it has an opportunity cost when producing products using those limited resources. Therefor much attention should be given when selecting the most appropriate product. This could be achieved only if efficiency and effectiveness is satisfied. Efficiency means getting the maximum output from minimum input whereas effectiveness means getting the work done through a specific time limit.

How to produce?

This is a problem regarding production technology. There are 2 production methods existing in the world today. They are labor intensive method & capital intensive method. Both these methods have advantages as well as disadvantages but, it is the responsibility of the organization to select the best way to give quality products at a cheap price.

Whom to produce?

This is a problem regarding distribution of resources. This means which category of people will reach these products. Whether they are high income owners or low income owners, are the main answers for this problem.

To answer these three basic economic problems, economists have defined 3 basic economic systems. They are;

- Free Market Economy

- Command Economy

- Mixed Economy

2.a.1)Free Market Economy.

This is an economic system in which the basic economic problems